


The Worst Case

by marineduo (spiralxshock), spiralxshock



Series: Helmeppo's no good, very bad luck [6]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, I was sad thinking about this and I'm making it everyone else's problem, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28925178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiralxshock/pseuds/marineduo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiralxshock/pseuds/spiralxshock
Summary: This mission was supposed to be easy. Go in, arrest the woman who had used her devil fruit to set herself as the ruler of a small island, and leave. Except… Nobody had actually known what her devil fruit was. Something terrifying enough to keep the people in line, but not even Coby could have imagined how terrifying it could be.
Relationships: Coby/Helmeppo (One Piece)
Series: Helmeppo's no good, very bad luck [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1975567
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

This mission was supposed to be easy. Go in, arrest the woman who had used her devil fruit to set herself as the ruler of a small island, and leave. Except… Nobody had actually known what her devil fruit was. Something terrifying enough to keep the people in line, but not even Coby could have imagined how terrifying it could be.

Coby breathed heavily, back against the cool metal of the wall. He wasn’t sure how long he could keep running. Smoker and the others would be there soon. All he had to do was survive until then. But he was starting to run out of options that weren’t fighting. Compared to his pursuer, he wasn’t built to keep going for so long. He was slow, trained to hit hard and end something fast. A stamina contest like this was only going to end in disaster… 

Around the corner came a metallic scraping sound. A sound that sent a chill up Coby’s spine. He took a breath. One hit, that’s all it would take. He could end this quickly and feel sorry about it later.

Stepping out from his place around the corner, he readied himself. Down the hall Helmeppo stood, dropping his arm from when he had been gently running one of his knives along the wall. It was a worst case scenario Coby had never considered, and wished he never had to see. His friend, his  _ partner _ , stripped of his free will and set on him like a dog. And Coby forced to fight him if he wanted this over quickly.

“Helmeppo, I… I don’t know if you can hear me. But I’m  _ so _ sorry.”

Coby rushed him, and almost immediately realized the scope of his mistake. He may have been holding back. Helmeppo, on the other hand, was not. 

He dodged as quickly as he could, but still couldn’t completely avoid the kukri coming at him. Pain exploded in his shoulder as his coat was quickly stained red. Coby had no time to truly assess the damage, as Helmeppo was swinging at him again. Being on the defensive was not something he was used to, and only fanned the flames of his fear. If Helmeppo was really this good, then he’d been holding back in their sparring sessions. And that meant Coby had no idea what to expect. 

In the end it’s  _ soru _ that saved him, however briefly. He was able to get behind the other and land a hard kick, sending him slamming against the wall. A crack echoed through the hall, causing Coby to falter. Had he gone too far? Helmeppo slumped, shattered sunglasses falling to the floor. Thank the seas. A hit like that would put anyone down and it seemed only the glasses had been completely broken. Cautiously, he stepped closer to his partner. 

“Helmeppo?” He reached towards the other before jumping back, narrowly avoiding losing an arm as the other swung at him once more. 

Coby’s mind raced. How was he still standing? A hit like that should have knocked him senseless. He should know, seeing as he’d done it to the other before, even if it was an accident that time. But now he seemed to be getting up like it was nothing, a blank anger in his now-visible eyes. Coby swallowed hard his mind settled on the most likely reason. The devil fruit user. So long as he could physically move, he’d try and kill Coby. Fine. One more hit would have to work. If it didn’t, he wasn’t quite sure what he’d do. 

He took the other’s still vulnerable position trying to stand as an opportunity to land another hard blow to Helmeppo’s chest. Once more he doubled over, but this time wheezed and coughed- blood splattering onto the floor. Oh. Oh no. Coby’s stomach twisted into a knot. He’d gone too far. But… Helmeppo was still getting up. Still set on killing him. There was no way his partner could take another hit and actually survive. All he could do now was run and pray Smoker took her out before Helmeppo took him out. 

Sprinting down the halls, a soft sound came from his coat pocket. Skidding around the corner, he yanked out his small transponder snail. 

“Vice Admiral! Where are you?” Coby all but yelled, not bothering to hide. 

“We’ve just entered the building. Where are  _ you? _ ”

“Lower levels. The target can control people, don’t let her touch you.”

“What the hell is going on?” Concerned anger filled Smoker’s voice. “Is she controlling you?"

“Helmeppo. Send Tashigi. And a doctor.” Speaking while sprinting was getting hard. He couldn’t slow down with Helmeppo not far behind. “Hurry!”

Coby stumbled, losing his grip on the transponder snail. It fell to the ground as Smoker continued to yell.

“Who’s injured? Coby? Coby!” The voice echoed through the halls behind them. 

Rounding the next corner, Coby glanced behind him and promptly slammed into a wall. There was nowhere left to go. Rooms to the left and right, but that would still leave him cornered. His back pressed against the wall, staring down his partner as he walked around the corner. Helmeppo was breathing heavily too, mouth stained red with blood that dripped down onto his shirt. He shouldn’t still be standing. Coby knew that. Part of him wondered if Helmeppo knew it too. Was he aware of what he was doing? Coby hoped not. He couldn’t bring himself to kill his partner. Sliding down the wall, he stared up at the other’s bloody face. No more running. No more fighting. He just couldn’t do it. Tears stung his eyes as the pain of his injuries finally caught up with him. Shoulder, chest, back, cheek… Shallow but painful as the adrenaline wore off. 

“I’m sorry. I can’t stop you. This… This isn’t your fault. I love you.” Coby said to himself. He wanted to say he was saying it to Helmeppo, but… He had no idea if Helmeppo could hear him. He hoped he couldn’t. He hoped his partner had no idea what was going on. It would make things less painful. 

Coby closed his eyes as Helmeppo raised his blades, tears running down his cheeks as he accepted his fate. He waited, but the swing never came. Instead there was the loud clatter of metal on metal. 

“Coby?” The voice was weak, barely above a whisper, but Coby’s eyes snapped open when he heard it.

Helmeppo stood in front of him, dazed but looking at him.  _ Seeing _ him. Briefly, anyways. Coby watched as his eyes closed, starting to collapse backwards. With one last burst of energy, Coby jumped up and towards his partner. It was close, but he caught the other before he hit the floor. He should be able to breathe, but he still found it impossible. Now that it was over it was clear just how much damage he must have done. He’d hit his friend with two attacks that could kill a normal person, and now that damage must be even worse. They’d just sprinted around the halls for several minutes on top of everything Coby had done. 

Footsteps echoed through the halls, growing closer by the second. They must have seen the snail, and the blood.

“Coby! Helmeppo!” Tashigi’s voice rang clearly through the air. 

“We’re over here!”

Before long she rounded the corner, other marines in tow. Tashigi stopped short. Coby couldn’t blame her, he doubted he looked much better than Helmeppo at this point.

“He’s hurt worse than I am.” He said as the marine doctors rushed over. It was hard letting go, but he knew they needed space to work. 

One of the doctors started tending to his wounds as he watched the scene unfolding before him. Tashigi stood next to him as they watched the others cut Helmeppo’s shirt off to assess the damage. Coby felt sick. Already his chest and side were becoming a dark, mottled blue and… Well, something was certainly broken if not worse. 

“How’d this happen?”

“Tashigi you… You have to promise me you won’t tell him.”

“I promise.”

Coby took a shaky breath, wincing slightly as the doctor tending to him cleaned one of his wounds. 

“The woman who had taken this place over… Her devil fruit lets her take control of people. She… We were careless.” The tears began again, blurring Coby’s vision. “I could have killed him. She made him attack me and I almost  _ killed _ him.”

It was selfish, asking his friend to keep that secret. But he didn’t want Helmeppo to know what had happened. How close both of them had come to death. It was hard enough to admit that he’d almost killed the love of his life to himself, let alone his better half. And if Helmeppo didn’t remember anything then it was better he didn’t know how close Coby came to dying either. 

“You think he won’t remember?”

“I don’t know. But if he doesn’t… I don’t want him to know my injuries came from him. You know how he is.” A half truth, but enough of an excuse that she seemed to buy it. 

“Right.” She sighed, crossing her arms. “Smoker’s going to want the story too, you know.” 

“I know...”


	2. Chapter 2

By the time he was able to get a moment to myself, Coby had asked people to keep the story quiet more than he’d told the story itself. He couldn’t do that to the other. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself. As much as he’d blame himself, he’d get over it with enough reassurance and an explanation of how it really wasn’t his fault. In the end it was Coby who couldn’t confront the truth. He didn’t want to say he almost killed his partner, not any more than he had to in the constant meetings since they had gotten back to the nearby Marine base.

He wandered to the base’s hospital wing, a place he’d been avoiding for the past few days. That was something he didn’t have the luxury of anymore, now that his partner was up. Coby pushed his way into the private room — a result of how critically he had been injured —and couldn’t help but smile. 

Bruises still covered Helmeppo’s body, but had already faded significantly. Coby let the door swing closed with

“Took you long enough.” The other’s voice was hoarse and tired, but held humor that Coby had sorely missed.

“Sorry, I was... busy. How’re you feeling?” 

“Won’t be moving anytime soon, but I’m more or less upright if that counts for anything.”

Coby smiled awkwardly, his own face still stiff from the cut across his cheek. They fell into a peaceful silence. Despite the guilt he still felt, just being around the other made everything better. He’d be ok, and that was more than Coby could have hoped for. He reached out, resting his hand over Helmeppo’s.

“How… How much do you remember? Of what happened, I mean.” Coby prayed that the other couldn’t pick up on how nervous he was. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if the other remembered.

“Not much.” Helmeppo’s voice was soft. Sad, almost. “I… I remember pieces. I think. It’s just… Too disjointed to make any sense of.”

A sick sense of relief filled Coby’s chest, and it felt like weight had been lifted off his shoulders. 

“The devil fruit user was a lot stronger than we expected. Smoker was able to beat her but he didn’t exactly have a form someone could throw through a wall.” It was vague enough that he didn’t have to keep track of too many details, and by Helmeppo’s expression it was believable enough too.

“What about you?”

“What about me.”

“That cut’s new, but you don’t look like you were thrown through a wall.”

Ah. He hadn’t thought about that.

“Well it wasn’t just her. She could control people. The people she had helping her weren’t easy to deal with… I was lucky to say mostly out of range until Smoker showed up.”

He nodded solemnly. So he bought it… Thank the seas. 

“You always get lucky with this sort of thing.”

Coby couldn’t help but give a small laugh. They both had gotten lucky this last time. If anything had been different, both him and his partner would likely be dead. He brought Helmeppo’s hand up to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to the back. Whatever happened next he could deal with, so long as they were still together.

* * *

Recovery felt slow. And as someone who’s had slow recoveries before, that was saying something. Helmeppo had been released from the base’s hospital only a few days ago, but was still under strict orders to take it easy. It wasn’t the longest hospital stay he’d ever had, but the energy had never been as strange as it had been this time. Even now that he was out the weird energy seemed to remain. Smoker and Tashigi kept giving him strange looks, and even Coby was acting like he was made of glass. 

It was… Disconcerting, to say the least. 

He still couldn’t remember most of what had happened before waking up in the hospital. Every now and then he would get sudden, strong feelings that always came at the strangest times. For some reason he still couldn’t pass Coby a knife in their shared kitchen without feeling sick. It didn’t seem he was the only one either. Every now and then Coby would flinch away, and still avoided any mention of the scars he now had from their last mission. 

And then there were the nightmares.

As much as he wanted to dismiss them, they didn’t feel like normal nightmares. They were closer to the ones he used to have about Morgan’s escape, or the ones he still sometimes had about Marineford. Nightmares that came from something real. That still  _ felt _ so real they would leave him unable to sleep some nights. These new nightmares felt like that, but so much worse. Even while awake he could still picture them. Coby, scared and bloodied, sitting and looking up at him. Whispering to him. That it wasn’t his fault. That he loved him. He would feel his arms raise to strike against his will, as his partner closed his eyes.

That scene would play in his mind nearly every night. It would shock him awake, leaving him wondering if Coby was alright. It was worse in the hospital when he couldn’t check on the other by simply looking over to see him sleeping. Still, the whole incident seemed like a touchy enough subject that he didn’t bring it up. He could live without knowing for a while. 

It was another few weeks before he was well enough to start training again. 

Coby was kind enough to help, standing across the small training area. It was small and out of the way, perfect for them to have some privacy and shade from the island’s forest. The wooden kukri were light in his hands. He wasn’t quite ready to use the real things yet, but he missed the comforting weight of them in his hands. 

Sparring went about as strangely as everything else. Coby had promised to hold back, but his caution seemed… Excessive. Pulling away from his wooden weapons as if they were something to be feared, being unwilling to actually fight back, and doing what he could to keep his distance. Eventually he lost balance, and Helmeppo was able to knock him to the ground. The look of fear that crossed Coby’s face as he looked up made Helmeppo freeze. 

It had been him. He’d attacked his partner. The love of his life. It was coming back to him now, and though parts were still hazy those were few compared to what he now remembered. 

The training blades fell from his hands, hitting the ground with a soft thud. 

“You said she could control people. You… You said she had help.”

“Helmeppo-”

“It was me, wasn’t it. I hurt you.” Helmeppo’s throat felt tight, and tears started to blur his vision. “Those cuts… I… I almost  _ killed  _ you.”

He started to back away before turning and running into the forest. He just wanted to get away. To be somewhere he couldn’t hurt anyone. Stumbling almost blindly through the forest, his chest began to burn. So much for taking it easy. It didn’t stop him, though. He continued running until he couldn’t anymore, his legs giving out and leaving him hurting on the forest floor. 

Helmeppo curled up as best he could, wishing the pain would leave him but knowing he deserved it. To think he had almost killed his boyfriend… His aching body was nothing compared to that. 

“There you are.” Coby’s voice was close. Helmeppo hadn’t even noticed him, but there was nothing he could do. He could barely move as it was. 

The other’s hands were on him, pulling him more or less upright against a fallen tree. Coby’s arms stayed around him. It was almost comforting. Almost. He knew he didn’t deserve that comfort. Not after what he’d done.

“Helmeppo, I’m so sorry.” Coby said, his voice shaking. It seemed he was on the verge of tears himself. “I should have told you. It wasn’t your fault, we… we couldn’t have known that would happen. You didn’t do anything wrong. That woman did. I did. But not you.”

The arms around him tightened, as if Coby were afraid he’d disappear if he let go. Helmeppo didn’t stop him. He wasn’t sure he could if he wanted to.

“I was scared about you finding out but… But I should have told you. You deserved to know what I did but I was a coward.”

“What…” Helmeppo croaked out, voice hoarse.

“Didn’t you wonder why you were in the hospital?” Coby hiccuped, his voice cracking with emotion. “I thought I could knock you out but it didn’t work. I almost killed you. If Smoker hadn’t… We... we  _ both _ could have died.”

Oh.

The last few pieces cleared up a bit. Not completely, but enough. Getting his head slammed into a wall still made things fuzzy, but he could remember that much at least. 

Helmeppo closed his eyes, burying his face into Coby’s shoulder.

“You should’ve told me…”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. No more secrets, I promise.”

They sat in silence for a while. Helmeppo was starting to feel better thanks to the rest. The aching had died down at the very least. Part of him wanted to be furious that Coby had kept the truth from him, but… Well, if now was any indication it probably wouldn’t have gone well earlier either. Even knowing the full truth didn’t help the lingering guilt that hung over him, knowing that he still hurt his partner. But it felt like less of a burden knowing Coby felt the same. 

Eventually Coby shifted, and Helmeppo lifted his head. Exhaustion from the afternoon’s events clung to him, and it seemed like Coby had taken notice.

“We should head back. Can you walk?”

“I think so. I... might need to take it slow.”

Coby smiled, helping him to his feet and putting an arm around him for support.

“We can go as slow as you need.”


End file.
